This pace can appear amusing and exhilarating, like having a dotty older relative who keeps flying off on exotic excursions. It might not generate an artist’s finest, most focused work, but there’s something to be said for freedom, and if it’s mainly for his own benefit and a now cult- like audience, so be it. And he still gets to open those big concerts for the Police.

“Momofuku” (the title is a tribute to Momofuku Ando, the inventor of instant ramen) doesn’t have the unified feel of 2004’s “ The Delivery Man," with its binding agent of Southern music and imagery. But it’s more driven and inspired — if sporadically — than ”When I Was Cruel,” the album that brought Costello back to rock in 2002 after a six- year hiatus.

Costello has trod this turf before in his long career. and the album finds a balance between the disappointment of familiarity and the freshness of execution.

Costello sets them loose in various combinations with his regular players, and their singing and playing bring a spontaneous drive and an experimental garage rock stamp to the best moments. The songs jump from almost classic Costello ( a la "Armed Forces”) rock (the opening “No Hiding Place”) to comical cocktail vamp (“ Harry Worth”) to soul ballad (“ Flutter & Wow”).